WENDY Morgan has been a professional actor for 40 years. Her personal journey into veganism and discovering the realities of factory farming has led her to write and create her first film – about to be screened at the Southend Film Festival this weekend – called Mercy.

Mercy is a factory-farmed pig who takes us on her tragic journey as she leaves behind her family and encounters those whose job it is to end her short life. It will be shown on Saturday September 18 at 6.30pm, at Park Inn By Radisson, Southend.

Wendy, from Leigh, explains: “In 2011 Animal Aid did an investigation into nine abattoirs in the UK.

“Eight out of the nine were found to be abusing the animals. “One of those was just 20 minutes from where I lived.

“What I saw and heard about this place and factory farming in general horrified me so much that I instantly became vegan.”

She added: “In order to process the horror I wrote it into a screenplay and set about casting and filming – having been an actor for 40 years it felt second nature to me although I had never written nor produced, let alone directed a film before.

“I had no budget, but gradually people hearing about the project also felt passionately and so it actually happened with the good will of so many talented people.

“During the pandemic we filmed a new scene or two remotely, which was interesting as the link with factory farming and pandemics was by now awfully tangible and this needed driving home in the film.

“The terrible conditions that I witnessed are, for the animals, a living hell - also the profoundly damaging effect that animal agriculture has on our planet is terrifying.

“I learned how to edit as I didn’t have funding for that – we were making the film in very hard times but that somehow made it all the more relevant. “Southend Film Festival is the first we will be able to attend in person. It is a big thrill that we will get to meet some of our audience.”

Tickets are £7.

Included in the price is a short film by Niki Cornish called Ubique Virtual Gallery. The Southend Film Festival is on from Thursday September 16 until Sunday September 19. More info and tickets at Southend Film Festival